I won't visit India for a pleasure trip: Qureshi

Qureshi told reporters at the Foreign Office Saturday: “I will not visit India for a leisure trip. I would only go if India is ready for meaningful, result-oriented and constructive talks and the environment is conducive for the parleys."

The talks to bridge the trust deficit between India and Pakistan ended in a stalemate here Thursday.

Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had invited Qureshi to visit New Delhi for yet another round of parleys.

Qureshi has now made the acceptance of the invitation conditional on India’s willingness to talk on all issues that have marred relations for decades, but he feels that Indians are not yet ready for it, Dawn reported Sunday.

He said: “We listened to their concerns about Mumbai and terrorism and they too should have listened to our reservations. If they are answerable to their people, we too as a democracy are answerable to parliament and people of Pakistan."

He added that the issues raised at the talks were not new and were part of the suspended Composite Dialogue.

To his charge that Krishna was on the phone taking directions from New Delhi during the talks on Thursday, Qureshi clarified that it was not Krishna who was on the phone, rather it was one of the delegates who kept updating New Delhi and receiving instructions.